Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta Quinlivan, as ucht spás a thabhairt dom. It is important that we are accurate in our analysis of this issue. Obviously, there has been an increase in employment in recent years. We welcome this. It is also important to realise that 350,000 people remain on the live register, that 81,000 people are on job activation schemes and that during the term of the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government, a net total of 147,000 people emigrated. The number of people to whom such collateral damage has been caused is far greater than the number of jobs created in recent times.

The focus of the debate is on the delivery of full employment. Economically speaking, full employment is generally deemed to have been attained when the unemployment rate is between 3% and 4%. The lowest rate of unemployment recorded in this country was 3.7%. Fine Gael has set the bar for full employment at 6.4%. It seems that if one moves the goalposts, it is easier to win the game.

It is important to talk about economic sustainability in this context. Obviously, sustainability is about having balance within the economy. The economy crashed because so much of it was sucked up in construction, property development and finance. It is important to mention that 90% of exports from this economy come from foreign direct investment companies. The majority of corporation taxes come from a handful of foreign direct investment companies. We are not achieving the necessary balance between foreign direct investment and indigenous business such as that typically achieved in countries such as Denmark and Austria.

In recent years the vast proportion of inward investment - 70% in some years - was in Dublin and Cork at the expense of other regions. While there has been an improvement, to a large extent, it has been because there is very little space left in Dublin where rental prices are going through the roof. It is not necessarily the case that the Government is steering investment into the regions. I suggest investment is now taking place in the regions because the Dublin economy is grinding to a halt as far as opportunities for further growth are concerned.

The retail sector is a good barometer of how indigenous business is functioning. In Cork, Sligo and Athlone one fifth of all prime retail spots are vacant. The level of vacant retail space is 15% in Sligo, 10% in Cork and 18% in Athlone. Obviously, the use of retail space is nearly at capacity in Dublin. This is another example of the disparity between Dublin and the regions. Some 68,000 jobs have been created since the low point.

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